Surprisingly, nearly 40 per cent of those who took the survey chose the 38-year-old congresswoman from Hawaii as the runaway winner

As of early Thursday morning, more than 70,000 people voted in the poll.

Gabbard, a Hindu woman who was born in American Samoa, is an Iraq War veteran.

A key plank of her campaign is to remove American soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq.

During Wednesday’s debate, Gabbard got into a heated exchange with Ryan, the congressman from Ohio.

When asked about whether American troops should remain in Afghanistan, Ryan answered that they should because leaving would run the risk of the Taliban carrying out ‘bigger, bolder terrorist acts.’

Gabbard, who served in Iraq and Kuwait with the National Guard, quickly corrected Ryan, saying that it was Al-Qaeda, not the Taliban, who carried out the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

‘When we weren’t in there, they started flying planes into our buildings,’ Ryan said.

‘The Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11,’ Gabbard replied.

‘Al-Qaeda did.

‘That’s why I and other people joined the military – to go after Al Qaeda. Not the Taliban.’

Gabbard (right) got into a heated exchange on Wednesday with Congressman Tim Ryan (left) of Ohio over the issue of keeping soldiers in Afghanistan

Gabbard is considered unpopular by many Democrats. She supported Bernie Sanders during the 2016 primaries.

She has also been a harsh critic of ‘regime change’ wars.

Perhaps most controversially, she traveled to Damascus to meet with the president of Syria, Bashar Assad, in January 2017.

During the long-running civil war in Syria, Assad is believed to have used brutal means to suppress an uprising, including widespread bombardment of civilians as well as deployment of chemical weapons.

Gabbard has insisted that her trip was aimed at trying to broker a peace agreement and that she was not endorsing Assad or his actions.

Gabbard’s foreign policy views were reported to have endeared her somewhat to Donald Trump, who briefly considered her for a post in the administration.